Vladimir Putin's political playbook: Secrets and strategies inspired by North Korea

Why do leaders of authoritarian regimes conceal details about their spouses, children, and even their age?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been very successful in keeping their secrets. Source: Getty / Contributor

Key Points

• North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly turned 40 on 8 January, but keeps his birthdate and age unconfirmed.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin shields personal details, especially regarding his family.
• Experts say dictators learn from each other.

Why are we not sure if North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un recently celebrated his 40th birthday? How come we don't know very much about Russian President Vladimir Putin's childhood? And how are the two questions linked?

For Leonid Petrov, an expert in North Korea at the Australian National University, the answers surround a desire to maintain power and the creation of narratives "impervious to fact-checking".

But why should how old Kim is matter and what could he stand to gain?

"All North Korean leaders have had inconsistencies with their biographical information because their dates of birth must be very symbolic and somehow connected to something significant," Petrov said.

North Korean leaders from past to present, from left to right: Kim Il-sung in 1980; Kim Jong-il in 2010; and Kim Jong-un in 2017. Source: AAP / Vincent Yu, Wong Maye-E/AP

"Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of the current leader, was apparently born on 15 April 1912, which happens to be the same date when the Titanic sank. It is said that on that day, the "rising sun" of the Worker's Party of Korea was born, and it immediately dealt a deadly blow to world imperialism."

Petrov said the father of the current North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, was reportedly born in September 1941 in the USSR. However, official North Korean sources claim he was born in February 1942 on Paektu Mountain — North Korea's highest peak and considered sacred by its people — surrounded by legends of animals and birds welcoming him.

"In the Kim Jong-un case, nobody knew anything about him or his date of birth until 2009, about two years before Kim Jong-il [his father] died," Petrov said.

"He was likely 23 years old at the time, but it was probably decided to make him at least 25 to appear as a more charismatic and mature leader."

Authoritarian leaders learn from each other

Petrov believes Putin follows similar strategies to his North Korean counterpart.

Although Putin's official date of birth is widely accepted as 7 October 1952, there has been much speculation about his childhood.

"There is controversial information about his parents in Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], whether they were his real parents or he was adopted," Petrov said.

"There are rumours circulating that Putin's mother was of Georgian descent, his father abandoned the family, and his stepfather was abusive towards him before his mother gave him away. The official account of Putin's childhood and youth is impossible to verify, as all related documents have been removed from the archives."

During his New Year's Eve address to the nation in 1999, then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin (right) announced his resignation. Vladimir Putin (left) became acting president. Source: Getty / STR/AFP

Putin's official biography on the Kremlin website says his mother was "very gentle, friendly" Maria Ivanovna Shelomova and his father Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin served in World War Two.

Putin has held continuous positions as president or prime minister since being handed power from Boris Yelstin at the end of 1999, becoming the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin. Like Stalin and many other dictators, he has concealed and even mystified his personal life.

"Clearly dictators learn from one another," said professor emeritus Graeme Gill from the Department of Government at the University of Sydney.

"They learn the lessons from what happened in other places and at other times. So there is this process of sort of authoritarian learning."

Vladimir Putin once cultivated an 'action-man' persona through pictures such as this 2009 image of him riding a horse in Siberia. Source: AFP / Alexey Druzhinin/via Getty Images

'Married to Russia'

The personal life of Putin and his family is carefully hidden from the public eye. Regardless of any information journalists manage to obtain, the Kremlin never comments on it.

Probably the last official announcement of this kind was about Putin's separation from his wife Lyudmila in 2013. Putin confirmed the news in a TV interview after years of speculation about their relationship.

"The only information we receive from Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, is on how hard the president works," Alexey Muraviev, associate professor of National Security and Strategic Studies at Curtin University, said.

"He regularly makes references to Putin's long work hours and his busy daily schedule. It is supposed to sort of disseminate a message to the public that Putin is so flat out and doing nothing but exercising statecraft that he doesn't have time for anything else."

The only activities besides work that Putin sometimes mentions are his workout routine at the gym or his swimming sessions. Source: Getty / Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/AFP

The only activities besides work that Putin sometimes mentions are his workout routine at the gym or his swimming sessions to project a positive image and show that he is capable of leading the country with energy and vitality, Muraviev said.

"I think Putin wants almost to project the image of him being married to Russia.

"That he is the statesman. He is the person that lives and breathes only of Russia's concerns and Russia's interests."